What Makes
BIG WAVES?
Big Waves works with organizations looking to take courageous steps to create a more socially, economically and environmentally just world.
Big Waves is based in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), the ancestral, unceded territory of the M’ikmaq People. Settlers and the M’ikmaq have lived in this territory under the provisions of the Peace and Friendship Treaties since 1760 and 1772. We are all Treaty People and have responsibilities to each other and this land.
There are many paths to a better future, but also many barriers.
Some of these barriers are internal, as we face the fear and uncertainty of stepping off the known path, and our natural human resistance to change. Others are interpersonal, as we struggle with organizational systems, cultures, and group dynamics that leave us disillusioned, unmotivated and exhausted before we even get to the big task of change. And then there are the big complex problems and systemic problems which require whole new ways of thinking, being and doing that question everything we take as known.
Big Waves supports organizations and change makers to remove these inner and interpersonal obstacles and build their capacity to take system-oriented steps toward their vision for the future.
PURPOSE
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Develop courageous and change-oriented guidance from top to bottom within the organization that is willing to take risks to make the world better
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Build resilient organizations and communities that are able to evolve new ways of thinking, being and doing to stay motivated and to achieve big wild goals
Brook Thorndycraft, MA, B.Ed., Q.Med
works from K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) as a Mediator, Coach, Adult Educator, Facilitator, and Organizational Consultant. She has many years’ experience in the areas of conflict transformation, organizational change, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership.
Brook Thorndycraft, MA, B.Ed., Q.Med
works from K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) as a Mediator, Coach, Adult Educator, Facilitator, and Organizational Consultant. She has many years’ experience in the areas of conflict transformation, organizational change, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership.
LINEAGE
Brook’s approach to personal, organizational and systemic change has developed through a wide-ranging path of learning. While it is impossible to acknowledge all of the people and traditions who have influenced her development, the following are some of the key lineages, individuals, and communities who have nourished her practice.
Her primary frameworks are Workplace Restoration as taught by the Workplace Fairness Institute, Somatic Experiencing®, popular education, narrative practices, and most recently the Lewis Method of Deep Democracy. She is also deeply informed by restorative and transformative justice frameworks and lineages. It is important to note that the stories of some of these lineages are complex and varied, with deep influence from Indigenous, Black, and South/East Asian wisdom. The contributions of these knowledges are often hidden by histories of colonization. While the specific names and lineages of those teachings may be unavailable, it is important to name their centrality to this work.
People whose writings or teaching she has learned from include Peter Levine, Berns Galloway, Linda Thai, Zaid Hassan, Arnold Mindell, Myrna Lewis, Blaine Donais, Marjorie Munro, Kay Pranis, Nkem Ndefo, Staci Haines, Resmaa Menakem, Bonnie Miller, Camille Dumond, adrienne maree brown, Chris Cavanagh, Paolo Friere, Annahid Dashtgart, Shakil Choudhury, Tina Lopes, Barb Thomas, Gary Reiss, Vanessa Reid, Hilary Linton, Elizabeth Hyde, Jared Norton, Christine Kim, Otto Scharmer, Eric Shragge, Nancy Jackson, Bonnie Burstow, Diana Gonzalez, Erika Thorne, James-Amutabi Connie Haines, and Amani Will Carey-Simms. A small sample of the many people who she has learned from through collaboration or conversation include, but are not limited to, Margaret Alexander, Shannon Thompson, Mahlon Evans-Sinclair, Pauline Hwang, Ali Sauer, Roxanna Vahed, Louise Pitre, Lyn Adamson, Aziz Choudhury, Virginia Hamilton, Tuere Sala, Tania Cheng, fyrejean graveline, and the entire Prisoners’ Justice Action Committee (formerly of Toronto).
Brook’s current mentors and teachers are Sage Hayes, Sera Thompson, Camille Dumond, Nouha Ali-Ahmed, Arinna Weisman, Julie Diamond, and Dea Parsanishi
Brook is deeply grateful for the many people and guides, too many to name, who she turns to for wisdom, support and enjoyment of work and life. Teachers come in many forms.
Solidarity Statement
Big Waves is committed to being in solidarity with organizations making change for a more socially, environmentally, and economically just society. This solidarity includes a commitment to contribute financially to organizations and groups that are doing the hard work to create a better world. As a part of this commitment, 2% of Big Waves’s annual net income will be donated to organizations doing this important work. At least 1% must be to charitable organizations.
Groups will be prioritized based on their intersectional commitment to the following:
- Environmental protection, climate change and environmental justice
- Indigenous and Black cultural revitalization, sovereignty, and land rights
- 2SLGBTQ+ justice, safety, and wellbeing
- Alternative economy, anti-poverty, housing, and/or prison justice
In recognition that Big Waves is located in unceded Mi’kmaw territory, that African Nova Scotians have lived here for 500 years, and that both groups’ relationships to land have been continuously interrupted by colonization, at least half of the total 2% will be donated to organizations that prioritize Mi’kmaw or African Nova Scotian sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and/or land reclamation. These donations will be offered in the spirit of paying “rent.”
While the majority of donations will go to organizations located in Nova Scotia, some may be given to organizations serving the Atlantic Provinces more generally, or occasionally to national organizations that are supporting important work in this region.
Brook coaches people who want to develop their relational leadership skills and strengthen their capacity to engage in change from the inside out. She supports people to build their emotional intelligence, build their confidence and sense of empowerment, navigate conflict or upheaval, lead with authenticity and compassion, steward an organization through change, and become aware of their own use of power.
In the Workplace
With workplaces, Brook integrates a holistic approach to creating healthier and more impactful organizations. She offers Workplace Restoration, which is a comprehensive approach to restoring good workplace relationships after a major conflict, investigation, or other workplace trauma. She offers support, training, and mediation to teams going through transformation, or wanting to improve their workplace culture. Brook approaches workplace issues with a combination of cognitive, embodied and creative approaches rooted in conflict transformation, popular education and group process, systems theory, mindfulness, Deep Democracy, and Somatic Experiencing® to identify and address personal interpersonal and systemic patterns that get in the way of meaningful change.
Brook is a white queer person of Jewish, Austrian, and English ancestry. She brings many years of involvement in social justice work and organizing around issues including anti-racism and anti-oppression, prison justice, community healing, anti-poverty, sexual health, LGBTTIQ2SA issues, and migrant justice work. Brook comes to organizational work from a healing-centred perspective, recognizing both the individual and collective traumas that need to be healed and the importance of finding joy and connection. It’s not only about work. For her it can mean singing loudly or walking her dog on the beach.
Key training and certification:
- MA. Adult Education and Community Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
- Qualified Mediator, accredited through Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada
- Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Training, Advanced Level, Somatic Experiencing Training Institute
- Advanced Workplace Restoration and Workplace Fairness Assessment, Workplace Fairness Institute
- Deep Democracy Level 4, Lewis Deep Democracy
For more information (LinkedIn)
LINEAGE
While it is impossible to acknowledge all of the people and traditions who have influenced her development, the following are some of the key lineages, individuals, and communities who have nourished her practice.
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT
Big Waves is committed to being in solidarity with organizations making change for a more socially, environmentally, and economically just society. The following outlines a commitment to contribute financially to those that are doing the hard work to create a better world.